we'll tell them tonight
by kelly.rockwell
Summary: Lydia and Cora break the news to the pack that they're dating. It's not quite the reaction they expected, but they'll take it.


They'd been dating quietly for about a month, and it was better than Cora could've ever imagined.

She was a little thrown at first that none of the other wolves had questioned their scents being all over each other, but eventually she realized that they all just assumed that she and Lydia were only friends.

And maybe that worked at first, but as time went by and making out turned to making love, it started to bother Cora that they were keeping their relationship a secret. Because she'd fallen hard, and she knew it was too late to turn back. She wouldn't have even if she could. Cora loved Lydia, and she wanted everyone to know that they belonged to each other.

So it was Cora who finally insisted that they tell the others, and Lydia only reacted with vague surprise for a moment before she leaned into Cora and pressed a soft kiss to her semi-pouting mouth.

"We'll tell them tonight," Lydia murmured into Cora's hair, and Cora tightened her hold on the girl. Thankful. She was so incredibly thankful for her.

At the pack meeting that night, Cora and Lydia walked in holding hands. Cora knew her grip was a little too tight, as addled with nerves and excitement as she was. Lydia didn't seem to mind.

They stood in the middle of the room, very official-like, and when only Isaac and Peter's eyes fell on them, Lydia very loudly announced that she would like their attention.

When all eyes were on them, Lydia made a satisfied little noise and tilted her head to regard Cora with a look that fairly said that the floor was hers.

Cora swallowed hard. Lydia gave her hand another squeeze, maybe to calm her, or maybe as a reminder that they were standing in front of a room full of friends and family with their hands clasped and that the cat didn't really need that much more coaxing out of the bag.

"I- we, um," Cora stammered, and it was so unlike her but at the same time it made perfect sense. Because Lydia wrecked her as much as she saved her, and it was so hard to form the right words to say how much she loved that. She shook her head and straightened her back, swung their intertwined hands a little in case anybody in the room had been dim enough to miss it. "Lydia and I are together. Have been for awhile now."

"Almost a month," Lydia cooed from next to her, and the smile she flashed Cora when she turned her head to look at her was one that Cora was sure she could live off of for a small eternity. Maybe, Cora thought, she hadn't been the only one who wanted this after all.

There was a strangled sort of guffaw from over by the window, and Cora shifted her focus to Stiles, who had his mouth wide open and one hand clutching tightly to Derek's forearm. He seemed frozen in a suspended state of shock and amusement, and when Cora rolled her eyes she really wasn't sure if it was out of annoyance or fondness. Maybe a little bit of both.

"I knew it! I knew it. I freaking knew it," Stiles said when he could finally form words, and Cora's eyebrows shifted up because, really? One of the only humans in the pack had been observant enough to suspect them? It seemed ludicrous, but then again, it was Stiles.

"Oh, shut up, you did not," came Lydia's voice from next to her, and Stiles lifted a finger from his free hand—he still hadn't let go of Derek—in the air and opened his mouth and Cora just knew he was about to launch into something long-winded and potentially embarrassing.

"Maybe not knew, but I've suspected for awhile now," he said, taking a look around the room to make sure everyone was paying attention to him in his moment of shining glory. "And not because you both all but stopped talking to me, which, rude. But the way you two are around each other is just painfully obvious. I mean, last week you literally carried Lydia to her car."

"It was raining and she didn't want to ruin her new shoes," Cora said defensively, and a round of laughter started to circulate around the room. Stiles waved his hand in the air like his point had just been made for him.

Cora turned her attention to Derek, and found him in the middle of staring down at Stiles' hand on his arm with an inscrutable expression on his face. Cora idly wondered if maybe now was the time to loudly point out some of her own observations about the two of them, but she held her tongue in favor of waiting to hear what Derek had to say about her and Lydia.

Derek cleared his throat and looked to Cora and Lydia, back and forth between them for what felt like forever, and then he grinned. "If you two are happy, then I'm happy for you."

Stiles muttered something under his breath that Cora could barely make out it was so quiet, but she heard the word 'Sourwolf' and she figured he was probably giving him shit about having positive emotions. Derek leveled a glare at Stiles that didn't really look all that threatening from where Cora was standing, but it was enough that Stiles removed his hand from Derek's arm and closed his mouth.

Lydia was shifting next to her, untangling their fingers from each other and putting her arm around Cora's shoulders. "We're very happy," she said, but she was looking at Allison and it hit Cora then that Lydia had probably been having a silent conversation with her best friend while Cora was having a vocal one with Stiles and Derek. Allison was smiling at them, though, so it must have gone alright.

Isaac said something about being glad he never followed through with hitting on Cora, and Allison elbowed him in the ribcage at the same time that Derek told him to shut up.

"Dude, I'm not gonna save you if one of them comes over here and kicks your ass," Scott told Isaac from his spot next to him on the couch, and Isaac did that thing he does when he's only just realizing how what he said was the wrong thing to say. He bit his lip and raised his hands in sheepish surrender, and Cora couldn't help but laugh as she snaked her arm around her girlfriend's waist and tugged her in even closer.

And it was fine, really. It slowly faded back into a normal pack meeting after that, discussing tactics and concerns and the only thing that was really different was that Cora didn't have to be mindful of how close she was to Lydia.

When it was over, Cora walked Lydia to her car and kissed her goodbye. Stiles' wolf-whistle was immediately followed by a cry of pain and Cora knew without looking that it was Derek. The back of her neck and her cheeks were flushing pink, she could feel it, but it was okay. It was good.

It was perfect.


End file.
